Margin Note: iDVD and System Preferences mix-up

Regarding our recent coverage of iDVD 2 causing a problem with launching System Preference panes: We noted in an update that, even though our suggested fix worked, the panes themselves are still listed as "iDVD projects." This led us to wonder whether the reverse symptom might sometimes occur: a true iDVD project attempts to launch System Preferences. Trashing the "LS" files in your home directory's Library/Preferences folder (e.g., LSApplications) may help if this is so.

In any case, we believe that the ultimate cause of these symptoms is linked to the non-use of type/creator metadata in Preferences panes and iDVD, which would otherwise be used to identify which document goes with which app (a point of view also expressed in a recent MDJ article). That is, when checking with a utility such as Get Info or xFiles, neither the System Preferences application nor the prefPane documents are listed as having any Creator. System Preferences actually has an assigned Creator type (sprf), as can be seen in the Info.plist file in the package; but even this is not found in the Info.plist file for prefPane files. Somehow, combined with a likely similar situation for iDVD 2, this opened the door to the confusion that occurred. In the end, this is something that Apple will need to sort out, if only to prevent these sort of mix-ups down the road. If Apple wants developers to abandon Type and Creator in favor of filename extensions, as appears to be the case, it needs to get the extensions alternative to work correctly.